24/VIII 02 
[Zurich].

Dear Vladimir Ilyich and Yuly Osipovich!

At last I can spare a moment for urgent letters.

First of all, about the trip to Munich¹). It seems to me that it will bring some benefit only on the condition that I appear, on behalf of *Iskra*—*Zarya*, representing a whole series of organizations. Plekh[anov] probably wrote you about our brief conversation with Bebel (at the station), who precisely advised that one of us go to Munich to meet with the Vorstand²) and the editors of *Vorwärts*. Bebel pointed out the multiplicity of our circles and factions, and that the editors of *Vorwärts* hold a grudge against us and are therefore inclined to regard us only as one of these circles—you know this yourselves. Under such circumstances, to appear only on behalf of *Iskra* means to present ourselves to the congress in the role of a "poor relation" among hostile wealthy relatives, without a shred of authority and without prospects for attention. Only an address and a "mandate" signed by such committees as the Petersburg, Kiev, Kharkov, North-Russian organization committees could to some extent give us a different position, not to mention that, basing myself on this fact, I would have the right to declare in a greeting speech that *die tatsächliche und formelle Einigung der russischen Sozialdemokratie viel näher bevorsteht, als es für Außerstehende scheint*³). Otherwise, in my opinion, it is not worth our appearing personally.

It is unfortunate that we did not send greetings to the Austrian congress—I have not forgotten about it, but I did not want to do it on my own initiative.

M. Lurye with Zver[y—M. M. Rosenberg-Essen] and Sanina⁴) are in Geneva, and since Plekh[anov] left there on the 17th of August (until the 31st of August), I don't know where to send the letter.

P. B. AXELROD

Now about Lalayantz⁵). I have not yet had the chance to speak with him thoroughly and get to the bottom of him. But my first impressions are that the spirit of Russian practicism still seems to sit in him. Today he—and his wife⁶)—a very nice, likeable, not unintelligent person—expressed some "complaints" about *Iskra*—on his own behalf and those of various comrades in Russia—complaints of a typically Russian character, in one respect exactly like two drops of water similar to those in which the "Socialist-Revolutionaries" reproach *Iskra*. I earnestly asked him to set forth at least in a private letter to Vladimir Ilyich his remarks on Plekh[anov's] article in the last issue⁷). First, this will be useful as an illustration of how even people disposed toward you understand things, and second, the letter will give you reason, *in a comradely manner*, to dispel on behalf of its author some confusion, misunderstandings, and false interpretations. Unfortunately, my objections may influence his letter in the sense that the "complaints" will lose their purely Russian *ursprüngliche Originalität*⁸). But both spouses seem to be fine people, they will rest, they will read, they will recover from various ordeals—and I hope they will be good *Iskra*-ites. They probably are in need of some means. From this side, their immediate future worries me...

You ask me: "Did you rest well?" If one doesn't count 8–10 days at Beatenberg, where I went not for myself but for others, then I haven't rested at all this summer; on the contrary, I've been worn out by a continuous stream of guests, conversations with all manner of not only actual comrades but also semi-comrades, "sympathizers," and even simply radical-minded tourists. My house has turned almost into a boarding house. Today, for instance, this morning at 8 o'clock I found a pair of visitors in the dining room. Lately, thanks to outside "guests," precisely for the closest comrades (B. N. [Noskov], V. V. [Gurevich], and others), my apartment has proved cramped, and I myself have had little time for conversations with them.

I send greetings to all. I shake your hands.

Your P. A.

¹) P. B. Axelrod's trip to Munich for the congress of the German Social-Democratic Party did not take place. In his letter (of August 24, 1902) to the Moscow *Iskra* organization, V. I. Lenin wrote in particular: "...On September 14 there will be a congress of the German Social-Democratic Party: P. B. Axelrod will go from us to the congress. If you find it convenient, send him a mandate from the Moscow Committee. There is still time"... (P. N. Lepeshinskii. "At the Turning Point." P. B. 1923, p. 128). A greeting telegram was sent to the congress.

²) Vorstand—the governing board of the German Social-Democratic Party, the Central Committee.

³) Translation—"the actual and formal unity of Russian Social-Democracy is much nearer at hand than it appears to outside observers."

⁴) Apparently there is an error in Axelrod's letter, and one should read not with Sanina, but with Sanin; but perhaps this is Maria Arturovna Bleikhshmit, later the wife of A. A. Sanin. Mosei Lurye—a like-minded associate of Zver (M. M. Rosenberg-Essen), not the worker-Krasnoye Znamya activist A. Lurye, but a member of the "Petersburg League of Struggle"—1896–97.

⁵) See note 3 to letter 16.

⁶) Praskovya Ivanovna Lalayantz (Kulyabko), now a communist.

⁷) This refers to an article by G. V. Plekhanov in No. 22 of *Iskra*, "The Russian Working Class and Police Whips." (G. V. Plekhanov. Works, vol. XII, p. 240.)

⁸) *Ursprüngliche Originalität*—homegrown originality.